Prophet Shepherd Bushiri joined South Africans on Tuesday (18 July) to celebrate the birthday of the iconic Nelson Mandela by kick starting his ZAR 20 million charity project with a visit and donation to two orphanages in Pretoria, South Africa.

On Monday, the Prophet announced that he has set aside ZAR 20 million for charity work in Malawi and South Africa.
Living up to Mandela’s spirit of selflessness and giving, the Prophet, with his Beacon of Hope team, traveled to the high density area of Soshanguve in Pretoria where he took time and interacted with orphans at Boitumelo and Lebohang orphanages.

Apart from donating ZAR 100 000 and various food and non-food items to each, the leader of the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) also pledged to build a hostel and study room at Boitumelo orphanage, owned by Sophie Msiza, which has 48 children. Lebohang, owned by Magdeline Gola, is home to 35 orphaned children.

In separate interviews, Msiza and Gola hailed the Prophet’s gesture, saying they have seen the hand of God through his donations. Msiza described the Prophet as the image of God on earth and underlined the need for the world to, unceasingly, pray for Prophet Bushiri and his ministry.
“He is showing us what the Bible preaches. Often in churches our leaders preach to us about love. But what is love when we cannot show it?” she said.

At the announcement that the Prophet will expand her orphanage to include a modern hostel and a study, Msiza broke down in tears, looking at the heavens and shouting “I thank you Lord.”
“We have too many children here. It was always my wish to expand but I don’t have capacity. It is amazing that the Prophet just captured my worry,” she said.

Popularly known as Major One, the Prophet, after visiting the two orphanages, said it will always be his burden to reach out to the vulnerable.
“We cannot continue preaching about love, about everything. We need to show it. God showed his love by giving us His only son, Jesus, to die for us. As preachers, we need to show what we preach,” he said.

The Prophet saluted the two ladies describing them as symbols of humanity. He encouraged them to soldier on in taking care of the children and promised he will always be available for them.
The programme continued this Wednesday with more visits and donations to two other needy orphanages in Johannesburg. On Thursday, the Prophet and his team are set to fly out to Cape Town where he will continue to do his bit alleviate hunger and homelessness by donating funds and food to families whose houses were blown off during the flood.

After Cape Town, the Prophet will leave for Zambia to donate to vendors whose goods were destroyed due to the fire that ravaged the main market in Lusaka.
Malawi will be the last destination.